The
witness, Mr Yahyah Emmanuel, an inspector, told the court that he and three
other policemen, including the defendant, were on patrol when the seven shots
that left three men dead were fired.
According
to the witness, “On October 1, 2009, I was at Adekunle Police Station when we
received a distress call informing us of a robbery at Alagomeji after which
four of us signed for ammunition and went on patrol. When we got there, we saw
three men who ran into a car and locked themselves up immediately they saw us.
“I
got down from the patrol van with Cpl. Abolaji and asked him to go find out why
the men ran into the car when they saw us. After a while, I started hearing
gunshots and I moved to the scene to ask the defendant why he was shooting.”
Yahyah
further told the court that one of the men died instantly and the other two
died on their way to the general hospital on Lagos Island.
He
said: “Immediately I got there, Cpl. Abolaji said it was a mistake and the gun
was collected from him by another police officer who later discovered that
seven of the bullets had been fired.”
Counsel
to the defendant, Mr Victor Okpala, argued that Yahyah had not seen the
defendant fire the shots, adding that the defendant was on red alert.
State
counsel, Mrs O. A. Akin-Adesomojo countered that the Inspector had said
all he knew about the incident.
After
listening to the witness, Justice Ebenezer Adebajo adjourned to October 9 for
continuation of trial.
According
to the charge sheet, Abolaji, on October 1, 2009, at 4, Olode Street,
Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos at 12.30 a.m shot at three men— Mr Ibrahim Olojede,
Rotimi Philips and Friday Uti— which later led to their death, offences which
contravened Section 361 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.
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Society
CKN can u please stop using d IG's picture for report on Nigerian Police. The man looks so innocent to be aligned with their crimes.
ReplyDeleteMay the soul of the departed rest in Peace!!!I still dont gather why a police officer with the right training and sense of his primary role of protecting lives and properties still gives Mistake" as a reason for cutting down lives. This is a wake up call to rescreen, retrain and monitor the activities of men we have in federal police force with a genuine wiew to expunging bad eggs. We are tired of losing great minds perhaps destined to reposition this country.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened was just a case of d usual ego d police execise anytime they gt hold of any gun or weapons,when u see them,their movement changes,they walk even more braver than soldiers do,they are easily carried away and are ready to release fire at anytime,human beings now become like chickens,they tell u immediately that they will kill u or shoot u,if u shake,that man should face his own part of punishment,i dnt knw y graduates will not be employed and trained properly so police job will be respective and its name be restored rather than all this ex convicts and garage boys they collect money from and just push them into police force,thereby using it as a money making venture and crime perpetration
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